Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Freedom & Rights

Question 1

Protection policies definition + when?

Answer 1

1869: Protection board set up with total control over Aboriginal rights (Where they lived, worked, who they could marry, education, if children removed from familites)

Question 2

Assimilation definition + when?

Answer 2

1939: Absorb minority group into dominant one → no inclusion of Aboriginal culture into new Australian society.
- Negatively impacted Indigenous human rights
Mixed race people integrated into white society, full blood people put into - missions

Question 3

Integration Policy definition + when?

Answer 3

1965: Indigenous people would be able to voice and openly celebrate their cultural differences.

Question 4

Self Determination definition + when?

Answer 4

1972: Policy adopted by Whitlam for Indigenous people: could have control over things that affected their lives. Able to make their own decisions, having freedom and dignity + recognition as the First Nations people of the land.

Question 5

Reconciliation

Answer 5

1991: strengthening relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, based on: historical acceptance, race relations, equality and equity, institutional integrity and unity. Acknowledges past injustices and commits to a more equal future.

Question 6

Missions definition

Answer 6

• Christianising and civilising Aboriginal people

Question 7

Reserves definition

Answer 7

• People who lived there were wards of the state (took away their power and control)
• Created by Aboriginal Protection Board

Question 8

When and what was the referendum?

Answer 8

27th May 1967
- Australians voted to change Constitution so Aboriginal people would be counted in census and Commonwealth could make laws for them
- Decades of targeted and effected campaigns were run by organisations like the Aborigines Protective Association and the Australian Aborigines League to spark referendum/

Question 9

How did referendum change Australia?

Answer 9

• 90.77% ‘Yes’ vote, indicating the changing/progressive attitudes of Australians.
• Aboriginal people were counted in the census
• Establishing the Council for Aboriginal Affairs.
  o Gathered ministers from each state and territory to talk and address inequalities
• Led to social security benefits, war pensions, child endowments, and children’s pensions.
• Most importantly, it recognised the inequalities present in Australia, giving it longstanding significance for all Australians.

Question 10

Weaknesses to referendum

Answer 10

• Didn’t end discrimination
• Indigenous people did not receive equal wages
• Could not own land
• Some were displaced from rural country onto missions in more central locations to be counted in census
• They still were not recognised as First people of the country

Question 11

Aborigines Progressive Association (AAPA) background

Answer 11

Founded 1924: campaigned for Indigenous rights to land ownership, citizenship, control over their own affairs, and an end to the practice of removing Aboriginal children from their families.

Question 12

Australian Aborigines League background

Answer 12

Founded 1936: petitioned the government for Aboriginal representation in Parliament, for land rights, and for the right to vote.

Question 13

Day of Mourning info + when?

Answer 13

January 26 1938
150th anniversary of the landing of the First Fleet

Group of Aboriginal people gathered at Australian Hall in Sydney to protest and fight for:
- Separate Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs which had to include Aboriginal people
- New laws for the education and care of Aborigines
- New policy which will grant them full citizen status and civil equality (i.e. equal wages, education, pensions, land ownership)

• Launched by the Aborigines Progressive Association (AAPA).
• Under the Constitution, Commonwealth control was not possible (couldn’t meet their demands)

Question 14

Day of Mourning Impact

Answer 14

• Brought little change at the time, but it was a turning point to this national struggle.
• Succeeded in raising some awareness about the conditions faced by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• AAPA members advocated for the 1967 referendum.

Question 15

Terra Nullius definition

Answer 15

the land of no one → legal concept used by the British government to justify colonisation of Australia

Question 16

Land rights definition

Answer 16

legal and moral recognition of the ownership of the land and waterways that were home to Indigenous People. This has been recognised since 1975 in Australia. They can use the land for financial gain.

Question 17

Native title definition

Answer 17

A bundle of rights which recognise Traditional Owners, including:
Live on country and erect shelters and structures
Access country for traditional purposes
Visit and protect important sites
Hunt, fish, and gather food or traditional resources
Teach law, custom and engage in cultural activities.
They cannot use the land for financial gain.

Question 18

Eddie Mabo background

Answer 18

• Born Murray Island
• Denied inheritance of adopted father’s land under Queensland law
• Injustice fueled his determination to fight for Indigenous land rights.

Question 19

Gove Land Rights Case background + when?

Answer 19

1971
- Yirrkala people of Gove Peninsula took mining company to the High Court to resist attempts to mine the land without permission
- High Court upheld ‘terra nullius’ since Indigenous people did not cultivate the land, and had no clear leader → controlled by the Crown who gave permission to mine

Question 20

Gove Land Rights Case significance

Answer 20

it re-stated a law that denied Indigenous people ownership of their traditional land. (bad)

Question 21

The Mabo Case Background + when?

Answer 21

1992:
- Struggle between Torres Strait Islanders, who have possessed and used land continuously for thousands of years, and a state government, which claims that the state has title to the land.
- High Court recognised that a group of Torres Strait Islanders, led by Eddie Mabo, had traditional ownership.
- Overturned the 1971 Gove case, and claimed that the law of ‘Native Title’ existed in Australia.

Question 22

Significance of Mabo Case

Answer 22

Introduced the doctrine of native title in Australian law, and for the first time, gave communal title to land to many Indigenous communities, recognising their ownership.